One of the most important parts of writing is making sure you have true-to-life dialogue that actually fits your characters. Unless your main character is a smartypants who loves using big words all the time, don’t have him/her speak like this:

“The means by which I concluded that something was out of the ordinary was the fact that my mother was wearing a red silk sequined blouse instead of her usual loose t-shirt.”

Awkward, huh? Even if your character does like using big words or has a know-it-all way of expressing himself/herself, it’s probably best not to overdo it. Your readers may get sick of reading pages of that gibberish. Or they may get sick of your character altogether.

But writing good dialogue doesn’t always mean writing simple sentences. It just means writing the way your characters would speak. In Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl is a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind. The way he speaks is much different from the way an ordinary twelve-year-old speaks.

When I’m writing dialogue, I like to picture myself as the character I’m writing about. I put myself in his/her mind. It also helps a lot to read aloud what I’ve already written. I speak with the same tone and inflection as I imagine my character would. If anything sounds unnatural, I know I have to change it.

If the dialogue in your story isn’t believable, it creates a distance between the characters and the readers. It’s harder for the readers to care about your main character because they can’t really identify with him/her.

Another great way of knowing whether your dialogue fits your characters is to get feedback. Don’t defend your work – just let the people reading it tell you whether it is believable or not.

Good dialogue shapes who your characters are just as much as descriptions of your characters do. Whether a character speaks in short, choppy sentences or long, wordy ones makes a difference. In Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery, Anne loves to talk. She loves using big words and imagining things, so her sentences tend to be long ones.

Basically, it all comes down to this: True-to-life dialogue is not just important, it’s necessary if you want to tell a good story. It makes your writing stronger, and it shows us who your characters really are.

Yikes. It’s been  a while since my last post. And now that it’s summer, I don’t have much of an excuse. So from now on, I will try to update this blog at least every other day, if not every day.

Anyway, I figured I should do a post on this topic because I know that a lot of people think they should avoid the word “said.” Well, they shouldn’t. And neither should you.

I’m sure you’ve been told not to use “said” at least once in your life, somewhere along the way. You were probably told that because you weren’t using enough strong words, like “scream” or “cry” or “whisper.” In fourth grade, I was told NEVER to use “said.” And it was probably the biggest lie I have ever been told.

The reason you use “said” is because it’s natural. It doesn’t jump out at the reader and make him/her go “whoa.” Gail Carson Levine had a really good way of saying it in her book, Writing Magic. The way she put it is that “said” is invisible. It disappears. In other words, it doesn’t interfere with the actual story. Same with words like “ask.”

Example: “Where is the peanut butter?” he asked.

Versus: “Where is the peanut butter?” he questioned.

Eek. “Questioned” sounds so awkward. If you can’t really tell, it’s probably because it’s a single sentence. It’s not in context. But imagine if you were reading a paragraph, and all of a sudden a word like “questioned” popped out at you. Part of writing- actually a big part of writing- is about finding your voice and letting the words flow. To do this, you need to write naturally. And that means avoiding words that make your writing sound awkward.

Obviously it’s different if you’re writing a formal essay. The rules of writing are completely different. But this blog is dedicated to writing fiction, so that’s what I’m talking about right now.

Most of the time, when you’re writing dialogue, it might even be better to let the writing speak for itself. You don’t even need to use words like “said.”

Here’s an example:

“Hey, what’s up?” She had that assertive look on her face, like she was trying hard to be confident.

He looked up at her words, stopped playing around with his phone. “Hi.” He tried not to sound too surprised, but this girl never spoke to anyone; she was so shy. Why did she speak to him?

In this exchange of dialogue, the characters’ thoughts and actions drive the  story more than the actual words they say. And that’s fine. Notice how I didn’t use anything like, “she said” or “she mumbled” after the speaker’s words. I just jumped right in with the actions or thoughts or whatever.

Obviously, you can’t do that all the time. And you can’t use “said” all the time. But don’t ever think that you can never use it. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that you need to use words where they go. When a character is actually shouting, say “he shouted.” But don’t say that just because you’re avoiding the word “said.” Because when you do that, your writing sounds awkward. Write what feels natural. Write what’s right.

Upon request, I’m writing another post about adverbs and verbs. I hope you find it helpful!

Most adverbs end with -ly. Quickly, sadly, awfully, angrily, happily, softly, loudly. These are all adverbs. Well, imagine reading something like this:

Example: Slowly, he walked towards her. Although he was walking slowly, his thoughts were moving quickly through his mind. Was he making the right choice? He began walking more quickly, began walking briskly towards the girl. She was waiting for him, and as he drew nearer she called his name.

Yikes. Did you count the adverbs in that paragraph? There are five. Doesn’t it sound cluttered? Too much -ly. Now read this version:

Revised version: He walked towards her, lingering every so often along the way. Although he hesitated, thoughts whirled through his mind like a furious cyclone. Was he making the right choice? He quickened his pace, now striding towards the girl. She was waiting for him, and as he drew nearer she called his name.

You may have noticed that I didn’t just cut out the adverbs. I made the paragraph a little more descriptive and threw in a simile that wasn’t there before. Do you know why? Because once you cut out unnecessary adverbs, you have room for better writing!

But sometimes you will not find a verb that can get rid of your adverb. And that’s okay. Sometimes an adverb is simply what fits best and makes the most sense.

If you’re having trouble deciding when to use adverbs and when not to, try using thesaurus.com. I generally keep it open on my computer whenever I’m writing anything. It’s quite useful. I just typed in “walk slowly” and it gave me synonyms!

I hope this post was helpful and clarified anything that wasn’t explained in my previous adverb post. If you have any questions, leave them in a comment!